R.I.P. Carroll Shelby - Carroll Shelby, the Legend Automotive's, died - Shelby Cobra designer of sports cars and other legendary, died at the age of 89.Shelby died on Thursday at Baylor Hospital in Dallas, described his company, Carroll Shelby Licensing.
The company did not disclose the cause of death of the founder of the company. Shelby Licensing upload a Facebook page posting in the last month, saying he was hospitalized for pneumonia disease.
Shelby is less than some of the leading automotive designer who has worked with all three major American car companies, starting with Ford in the 1960s. Collaboration is the Ford Shelby GT500 last 2013.
High-performance sports cars Detroit Shelby helped Europe challenge the dominance of a race car. Head of Product Design for Chrysler's Ralph Gilles said Shelby to create a car that helps fans around the world find the "joy and self-actualization".
"My name is Carroll Shelby and the performance of my business," said Shelby in a commercial event for the Cobra.
Shelby was born in Leesburg, Texas in 1923. He began his racing career in the 1950s and in 1959 he won the Le Mans 24 hours, a marathon race held in France.
He was diagnosed to have serious heart problems in 1959 that forced him to retire from the race. Shelby had a heart transplant in 1990 and a kidney transplant in 1996.
Shelby still doing the rounds balapam with nitroglycerin pill under the tongue to prevent heart attacks. He complained that he would have won if not for the pill.
He immediately turned his attention toward design. He approached Lee Iacocca, who was at Ford, about building a lightweight roadster with the engine Ford.Nama AC Cobra, Shelby appeared in a dream.
In 1962, Cobra was introduced in the New York Auto Show and the Shelby company started making cars in California by the end of that year. In 1964, Ford asked Shelby to develop a high performance engine Mustang. In the same year, a song Hey Little Cobra by the Rip Chords characterizes Shelby in pop culture.
"Helping Ford dominating the 1960 race or build several famous Mustang, Shelby spirit and passion in making a great car for more than six decades have been truly inspired everyone who worked with him," said the founder's grandson Henry Ford Edsel Ford II.
He parted ways with Ford in the 1970s and turned to Chrysler, where he was tinkering with cars and working on preliminary design K Dodge Viper. He also worked for the Olympic Division of General Motors.
Shelby sued Ford in the 1990s the use of the Cobra name and the case was completed in 2001, he collaborated with the company again.
"The influence of personality on Dodge GLH and inspiration to the Dodge Viper concept first, we have lost a true automotive legend," says Gilles, who also led the Chrysler performance, SRT, which launched the SRT Viper 2013 New York Auto Show this year.
Shelby is survived by three children, six grandchildren, four cict and his wife Cleo.
